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    4 New Characters for TMNT: Half Shell to Get Excited For

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    It’s no secret that I didn’t care much for last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. With the plethora of comic book movies today, there’s bound to be a few I don’t enjoy. But as a Ninja Turtles fan since before I could even walk, I was let down pretty hard. I didn’t have a teddy bear, I had a stuffed Michelangelo. My first toys I remember were Ninja Turtle action figures. Therefore, I’ve had my own thoughts on the way such a movie should go. But just like Fantastic Four, my hope is out there for the sequel. Redemption for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Half Shell lies with the new characters straight outta’ TMNT-lore:

    Casey Jones

    In the movie world, a hockey mask can entail either good or evil. Elias Korteas fueled the side of the coin that is good. He portrayed the Turtles’ ally in the original, skipping the sequel, but came back for the third movie. Casey Jones has been a staple ingredient since the original comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird of Mirage Studios. Josh Peck from Drake and Josh and Grandfathered supplies his voice in the newest animated series. Even though I love his live-action roles, hearing his voice as my favorite TMNT character just rubs me the wrong way. Some say they hear Kevin Conroy when they read Batman. Well, I hear Korteas when I read Ninja Turtles.

    One of my favorite shows on TV right now is Arrow. Therefore, I’m stoked that Stephen Amell will be playing him in Half Shell. It was his chemistry with cast mate Megan Fox that landed him the role. Hate it or love it, but the driving force behind “Ollicity” was his chemistry with Arrow cast mate, Emily Bett Rickards. Call it chemistry, but I call it straight-up, great acting.

    The only thing that concerns me, though, is his hair. Every Casey I see has long hair. The Arrow flashbacks should get a good idea in your head what he’d look like as the Ninja Turtles’ vigilante. But judging by set pics, Casey’s do will resemble Ollie’s current look.

    Beebop and Rocksteady

    Concept art was released of what Beebop, Rocksteady, and Krang would look like, had they been in the first movie. Gary Anthony Williams will now play Beebop. And Stephen Farrely, WWE’s Sheamus, is Rocksteady. But since set pics only show them in human form, many are assuming the worse- if this one flops, their introduction will only blue-ball us. When the writers were working on Secret of the Ooze, they had plans to add the pair. Instead, Tokka and Rahzar became Shredder’s stooges in live-action. IMDB.com lists a second, much larger, actor for Rocksteady, though. With CGI, Sheamus should be big enough, but just the mention of Myles Humphus leaves hope for the rhino.

    The rhino and warthog quickly became popular villains on the original cartoon. So when Archie Comics picked up the books, they were added to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures. In the new cartoon, they were just added in the third season. Originally, they were uneducated idiots with Jersey accents. But their newest version took liberties with their descents. Rocksteady is now Russian. And Beebop is African-American, voiced by JB Smoove, making Williams the second Black interpretation of Beebop.

    Baxter Stockman

    Another character whose race has changed over the years is Baxter Stockman. In the very first issue of the Mirage Studios run, African-American, Dr. Stockman, with a brunette April O’Neil as his assistant, sets out to clean up New York City’s rodent problem with his robotic mousers. After a confrontation with our heroes, Stockman lost a limb, leading him to turn himself into a cyborg. But, most know him as is the Caucasian professor that Shredder mutates into a fly.

    Todd Freeman plays a blink-and-you’ll-miss part in the 2014 movie; you can see him in the flashbacks with April’s father. Apparently, such origins are lifted from the recent IDW comic books, as Dr. Stockman, with April as his intern, breeds the Turtles in his lab. He’ll return inHalf Shell,but this time, he’ll be played by Tyler Perry. Will he turn into a cyborg or a fly? Will he broaden the Turtles’ origin with more flashbacks of the lab? And will he work as a separate antagonist, or a stooge of Shredder’s?

    Krang

    So far, Krang is only a rumor for Half Shell. Are those rumors just wishful thinking stemmed from the concept art with Beebop and Rocksteady? I hope not.

    Just like Beebop and Rocksteady, Krang made his first appearance on the original cartoon. But the comics featured a friendly race called Utroms, who looked identical to Krang, and also used android bodies for mobility. In the new cartoon, “The Kraang” is a whole villainous race. But in the third season, the Turtles meet a Kraang called Bishop. In the cartoon from the early 2000’s, Bishop was a prominent character who resembled a Matrix Agent with a purple ponytail. In this adaptation, Bishop also allies himself with the Turtles. During a battle with Kraang Sub-Prime, voiced by a very fitting Gilbert Gottfried, Bishop tells him that they’re both Utroms.

    If Krang is an Utrom in the movies, then he could set up more characters for sequels. Just like the Kree with the Skrulls, the Utroms havetheir rival. And where there’s the Triceratons, the Ninja Turtles are surely to rescue the Fugitoid: a human professor trapped in a quirky, little, robot body.

    The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of the new movies may look ugly as sin. And if Splinter’s association with Shredder isn’t retconned by the sequel, blasphemy will still ensue. But with the simple dab of these great characters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Half Shell may be watchable. Shell, it may even be enjoyable enough for me to holler “Cowabunga!” or “Booyakasha!”

     Will you be watching the film? Sound off below!